The present invention concerns a dough shaping machine.
The invention is more particularly concerned with a machine for shaping dough comprising, mounted on a frame, a station for rolling out the dough, a station for rolling up the rolled-out dough, a station for shaping the rolled-up dough by stretching it, and at least one conveyor for transferring the dough from the rolling out station to the rolling up and shaping stations.
In the prior art the conveyors each comprise a conveyor belt driven by motorized rollers rotatably mounted on the frame.
In shaping machines of the above type, it takes a relatively long time to demount the conveyor or conveyors in that it necessitates demounting a part of the frame.
The aim of the invention is to overcome the above drawback.
Therefore, according to the invention, a dough shaping machine comprising, carried by a frame, a station for rolling out the dough, a station for rolling up the rolled-out dough, a station for stretching the rolled-up dough, and at least one conveyor for transferring the dough from the rolling out station to the rolling up station and the shaping station. These components form a unitary assembly structurally separate from the main frame and mounted thereon by removable fixing means, each conveyor including at least one conveyor frame equipped with drive rollers supporting a dough transfer belt, characterised in that the conveyor frame is provided with coarse adjustment means and with fine adjustment means for adjusting the tension in the belt by adjusting the distance between the drive rollers.
Accordingly, removal of the fixing means releases the conveyor or each conveyor, which can then be demounted.
The dough shaping machine of the invention can further have one or more of the following features:
the frame has two side flanges supporting the conveyor or each conveyor, the fixing means including a set of rods each insertable in a passage formed in one of the flanges and in a coaxial housing formed in the conveyor;
the housings for fixing the conveyor to the side flanges are formed in the frame;
the coarse adjustment means for adjusting the tension in the belt include a part movable axially relative to the frame of the conveyor by a cam mechanism and in which one of the drive rollers is rotatably mounted;
the cam mechanism includes an eccentric disk against which the mobile part is pressed by an elastic force exerted by the belt, the eccentric disk being mounted on a support to rotate between a first angular position tensioning the belt and a second angular position releasing the tension in the belt;
the means for fine adjustment of the tension in the belt include a screw for adjusting the axial position of the support relative to the frame of the conveyor on which the support is mounted;
the mobile part includes a plate having a first end portion equipped with a bearing support in which the drive roller is rotatably mounted and an opposite end portion forming an abutment bearing on the eccentric disk and mounted to slide on the support of the disk;
the end portion of the plate is a bent end of the plate or a separate part fixed to the plate;
the shaping machine includes a side plate mounted on the frame of the conveyor and spaced therefrom to delimit a space in which the mobile part slides during its axial displacement;
the shaping machine includes a first transfer conveyor belt having a first active face and a second active face that are mutually opposed and move in opposite directions and a second transfer conveyor belt having an active face substantially parallel to the second active face of the first conveyor and moving at a lower speed and in the opposite direction thereto, the first active face of the first conveyor delimiting an outward path for conveying rolled-out dough from the entry of the first conveyor to an intermediate point through the station for rolling up the dough and the second active face of the first conveyor and the active face of the second conveyor conjointly shaping the rolled-up dough and conveying it along a return path from the intermediate point to the exit from the second conveyor near the entry of the first conveyor;
the shaping machine further includes a third transfer conveyor belt downstream of the outward path near the intermediate point and extending towards a gap between the first conveyor and the second conveyor to assure active transfer of the rolled-up dough from the outward path to the return path;
each flange includes a side plate in which the passages receiving the fixing rods are formed, the plate being movable on the remainder of the flange by means controlling the distance between the first conveyor and the second conveyor.